In the prior art, it is well recognized to provide lawn mowers having self-propelled features, such that the lawn mower's engine, and not the operator, provides the primary source of moving power. However, to date the prior art has not adequately addressed the above-referenced issues relating to the use of such mowers at high throttle speeds in reverse drive modes. As may be understood, when the transmission of a lawn mower is placed in its "REVERSE" drive mode, the lawn mower (in the case of a walk-behind lawn mower) will be moving towards the operator. When such a situation arises, it may be understood that it is preferable to have the engine of the mower set at a low (preferably "IDLE") throttle speed setting, in order to minimize the chances for injury to the operator.
The prior art has attempted to address this situtation by providing mechanically interlocking apparatus which force a lower throttle setting when "reverse" is selected, but this arrangement has been found to be disadvantageous as the mechanical linkages can require a significant amount of adjustment throughout the life of their use.
Notwithstanding the existence of the above-referenced prior art, there is always a need to provide improvements thereto.